Small businesses based on trust of the community can turn out to be thriving economic models in this era of economic uncertainty.I feel that any potential businessman should understand the psyche of the community before venturing into any business.The community should not be considered a passive customer,instead its dynamic role should be understood in proper perspective.

Sunday, 22 December 2013

When I recently went through the
news link http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-16/uk/45254802_1_courses-public-life-standards
, I came to know that Britain’s new MPs will be gitoven compulsory ‘honesty’
training. This will teach them how to behave in a public office after a series
of scandals have disillusioned people with politics. It is hoped that ethical
courses to be started for Mps would increase their sensitivity to behave in a
responsible manner. The practical based training would help them to distinguish
between right and wrong.

The above development has a
strong trust perspective, more from the public angle. Public trust is
determined by the behavior of politicians .If politicians lose sense of ethics then
they can not generate trust. I sometimes feel that honesty is a thing which
comes from within, why there should be need for training? The logic here, is that people perceive that
politicians are a different breed. People have high expectations that power
must not corrupt politicians. So, the ethical expectations of people from the
politicians is more. Viewed from this angle, professional ethical training for
politicians is important for cultivating new skills in dealing with unexpected
situations which demand sound judgment based on high ethical considerations.

In India, there is a huge
disconnect between the politicians and the common people. Scandals of
corruption, rape, sexual offence involving politicians and other big-wigs are
on rise. The Lok Pal Bill which has been passed recently will definitely check
the greed of politicians, who will not be able to escape from the clutches of
law, However, I feel that training lessons on honesty based on the UK pattern
are more needed here. The professional training on honesty will make the Indian
MPs more people-centric, and create right awareness for good conduct. These
training courses can bridge the disparities in education level of the MPs, and
act a big unifying force for strengthening the public trust. If the
public trust for a
politician is built through inner
transformation of the politician through this training, then it can have more
impact than the regulatory framework.

I hope that developments on UK in this field can
act as a trend-setter for cleaning political culture through trust-building.The
ethical courses must have strong components on trust-building, more
particularly public t

Saturday, 21 December 2013

Public trust is a big issue for
any political party today. With rising levels of awareness, the barometer of
public trust has become very complex. Amidst fluctuating ups and downs, it is
very difficult to sustain public trust for any political party for a long time.
With AAP’s spectacular victory in Delhi elections, public trust has never been
so significant than ever before. Has AAP been able to win public trust? What
about other parties? Has AAP’s decision to form the government in Delhi based
on public opinion has strengthened public trust?

Public today can not be made
fools by any political party today. While a political party may be sure of the
trust of the trust level of people who will vote for them, the public have
other notions. They are in look out for those who are different from the rest
in their claims for good governance. AAP has been vociferously advocating for
transparency, honesty and rooting out corruption from the top to the bottom. AAP’s
trust-enforcing mechanisms got a boost due to lack of innovative political
ideas by other parties, who kept on toeing the old line. A smart social media
strategy tilted the scales of public trust in AAP’s favour. At a time when
leadership crisis is well evident in the political arena, Arvind Kejriwal’s clean
image and inspiring leadership were the other crucial factors in building up
favourable public trust for AAP. AAP’s ability to win the hearts of the youth was also an effective public trust winning ploy.

BJP and Congress having lost public trust in Delhi
elections, decided to give unconditional
support to AAP to form government in Delhi. At one time before the elections, they
had dismissed AAP, and ridiculed AAP’s claims for an outright victory. The
public trust could not be enforced due
to the fluctuating stance of both the parties, as people could see definite
ulterior moves in both these parties..
They took the plea that people of Delhi want government formation, and
AAP should not shirk from its responsibility. Feeling cornered, AAP presented
18 points demands to Congress and BJP to make their stand clear on various
issues, which both the parties condemned. The public trust appeared to have got
a big jolt amidst compulsive politicking by the parties on the issue of
government formation.

Recently, when AAP decided to go
for public referendum by conducting public opinion polls on whether they should
form government in Delhi, it appeared that this was a timely step in winning public
trust. The aam aadmi connection has been well utilised by AAP to win public
trust. The move to go for public opinion polls has been a democratic step taken
by the party to clear the scene of political uncertainty in Delhi, and put an
end to dirty political alliances sprouting up. The majority of the public
opinions appears to indicate that the people want AAP government formation in
Delhi. In all likelihood, it appears that AAP will form government in Delhi
with unconditional support of Congress. Now, performance of AAP in the
government will be a key factor in reposing the trust imposed by the people in
them. The Congress and BJP will have to deeply introspect about their
weaknesses due to which they could not win public trust. Connecting deeply with
the people so as to
win their public trust instead of taking them for granted, seems to be a big lesson
for both these parties from the Delhi elections.

An interesting video on the importance of trust in school education.I feel trust is very important in school education,at a time when value education is given importance in the school cirrucula.Trust-building component should be an important component of value education in the schools so that the schools give more emphasis more on behavioural aspects of child development.

What is ailing the organisations today?I think lack of empathy is a big factor.A caring attitude to try to know the feelings of others,sends positive vibes in an organisation.Those organisations succeed who have have empathy in abundance.I am convinced that trust is built upon empathy.Those organisations which want to develop through empathy keep their channels of communication open and transparent.When transparency is not there,then it appears that empathy is lacking in a big way.

I think for building up trust through empathy,developing right wisdom is very important.This wisdom comes when we are in a high life-condition,energetic and fully alert,alive tot eh feelings,and emotions of others.Wisdom allows you to understand other person's plight at a deeper level.When that undersatnding is built upon heart-t0-heart bonds,then trust gets a real boost.

Sunday, 15 December 2013

When I went through the following link[please see my comment], I got fresh insights on leaders,and the factor of trust-building.Trust in leadership develops only when leaders take pains to understand the hard work and toil of workers in the action-area by actually making contribution there. But,can we find such leaders?Or,can we ask the present leadership to undertake a deeper introspection on this issue?

In the world dominated by social media,traditional media,or advertising is facing many limitations in product-brand building.The consumers' trust in social media,for buying products based on people's recommendations,is definitely a pardigm shift as far as media strategy is concerned.But,the results have to be analysed in the context of regional variations.In India,the social media is gaining popularity,but whether it can play a powerful role in product brand-building,has yet to be analysed

Today,we need great leaders who show us a way by building up a strong model of trust.The problem in most of the cases is that the most of the leaders don't have trust in themselves,as a result they fail to rally people around them.Can such type of leaders emerge in large numbers?The success of our systems will depend on this.

I think the world is driven by
innovation, which is built upon trust. Every nation, every sector, and every organization
is craving for innovation. Innovations are a growth indicator, driven by the
impulse to see change all around. However, the foundation of innovation is
trust. The group dynamics helps in problem-solving, based on innovative
solutions.

The organizations which innovate are
successful, and here the level of trust is noteworthy. Can we motivate every
one in the organisations to innovate by building up their self-trust, and
helping them to trust the people around. This may be one of the major issues in
organizational dynamics.

At a time when the trust level of
people in the politicians has diminished, Delhi assembly elections have come as
a fresh change. And who have been the harbingers of change? They are youth, who
have reposed their trust in the electoral system as never before. The large
voter-turn out in the elections has been mainly due to their increasing level
of participation. Delhi’s 65.13% voter turn-out has been a landmark, in which
around 2% of the total turn-out can be attributed to youth alone.

So, has a paradigm shift come? It is too early
to say, but the level of trust shown by the youth started with a social cause-the
movement against corruption started by Anna Hazare. A committed leadership
united for a big cause attracted the youth, who started trusting the leaders
who appeared to them the agents of change in a decadent political culture. But,
when the movement fizzled out, and Arvind Kejriwal parted out to form a
political party, the trust level appeared to be broken. Kejriwal’s call to
youth to enter the political fray to bring in systematic change strengthened
the trust.

Much will now depend on the results of Delhi elections.
The trust of youth in AAP will show a real test when the results are out. However, it appears that AAP is bound to emerge as a
major political force in future, and youth will be its prime target group. To
what extent AAP is able to keep the trust level of youth intact based on its
performance, has to be seen. The promise of systematic change has to be
translated into reality. Today, the country faces a big challenge to ensure
that the youth increase their level of trust in politics. At a deeper level, the
trust level of youth in politics, will increase only if more such alternatives
promising change like AAP emerge. The rising awareness level of youth towards political
issues can be utilised in a constructive way only if trust-worthy political equations
emerge which strike a popular chord in the minds of dominant youth population.

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Recently. when I went through this
link http://solutiondesign.com/food-and-trust/, I got new insights on how to build
up trust through eating together. The author comes up with refreshing insights
on what needs to be done to build-up team spirit through eating together.
In organisational growth, this is a factor which is grossly neglected. When
people in organisations don't trust each other, they try their best to avoid
each other. They just do their job, without caring to find an opportunity to
intermingle with others, or do some activity in leisure time together.

Some of the people in
the organisations show a lonely approach when they don't feel the inner urge to
share lunch with their team-mates. As a
result, they feel stress. which affects their work productivity. Eating
together provides a wonderful opportunity to build up informal relationships, which
go beyond the work domain. All this helps in building up trust, which helps in
the work performance too. The organisations which encourage people going out
for meals together, or picnics, etc are bound to create a culture which is
open, and which allows people working in the organisations bond together. I
find that encouraging workers to indulge in some sports /cultural activity in a
group manner can also be a good way to bust out their stress. Many of the
organisations are doing this, but the fact remains that many of them neglect
this vital factor,is a worrisome trend.

Organisations can build up trust when
employees are given opportunities to trust each other through creating
non-official channels of communication which are not based on professional
relationship. I think this can be a difficult process, and may lead to people
comparing with each other on personal front too. But, the benefits are more in
this approach, simply because this provides an opportunity for each employee to
know the personal side of each other. A compassionate outlook thus can be
created, which helps remove the ill-will amongst the employees.

A futuristic vision for robust
organisational growth rests on formulating effective trust devices which are
based on encouraging group activity amongst the employees. At a time when
team-building is given much emphasis in organisations for achieving the
targets, informal group activities can help in building up an open and
transparent work culture, which can uplift the morale of an organisation.

Even in other fields too, doing an
activity together has good results. Researchers from University of Buffalo
recently studies 634 couples through their first nine years of marriage,
finding that divorce rate was higher only when one person was a heavy drinker.
Surprisingly, if both partners drank equally heavy then their choice of
splitting up were no longer high. When I
read this interesting statistics through a news-item, I got convinced that the
power of doing an activity together is immense.

With our society becoming individualistic,
community ties are becoming weaker. Group activities, whether informal, or
formal are needed to build up community ties. Bonding of couples through mutual
involvement of partners is much needed to strengthen families which tend to
break due to the inflated egos of the partners.

Often, we like comparing ourselves with others. We lament that we are inferior to those, whom, we
consider are success in their lives. Money, power and influence are generally our common yard-sticks to judge others’
success. While comparing ourselves with others, we tend to have more
trust in the capabilities of others. Our admiration of our role-models is generally built on our
inferiority complex, with which we are often gripped with. We are not able to
break the shackles of our complex, because we don’t have trust in our
capabilities.

Having not trust in our capabilities hampers our ability to
triumph in our daily life. We develop stress, fear, and we are not able to
surge ahead. At family level, we fail to become a role model for other family
members, as we are ourself not sure of
our capabilities. Our ability to generate happiness for our family is crippled
due to lack of trust in ourself to transcend our weaknesses, and think for
others’ happiness. At society level, our contribution in making a better
society does not come up to the surface as we don’t have trust in our
potentialities to think beyond ourself.

The achievers in every walk of life have triumphed because of
their trust in their capabilities. They have overcome their limitations because
they have trust in their capabilities to overcome all odds. The society today
needs people who have trust in their capabilities. The only change will come,
and our institutions will work. The leaders will emerge only when people are
given encouragement to develop their attitude to trust their capabilities. Then only such people
will develop leadership traits, and mobilize the people around for a common objective,
thus setting up an example for others. At school level, the value education
component must give due emphasis on
trust-building component. Children’s thinking must be developed through
creative ways so that they feel
confident to develop trust in their capabilities.

How can one develop trust in
one’s capabilities at individual level? A spiritual practice can help in
bringing the change in one’s thinking. Courage, confidence and high-life
condition will follow naturally, which will bolster a person to trust his
capabilities. If a person can trust in his capabilities, then he will usher
change in the society by encouraging others to trust their capabilities. The
highest potentialities of people then emerge, which can revolutionise our
socio-economic system.

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Can We
Help Our Children Grow Up in Trust?

Today, my teenage daughter, declared
at the top of her voice, that we as parents don’t trust her. I was shocked to
hear this. Obviously ,her pent-up feelings found an outlet in her outburst. Since
many days, we were trying to pose a lot
of uncomfortable questions to her, which
were making her disturbed. She didn’t like us following her friends, she didn’t
like us forcing her to study, she didn’t like us to intrude in her private
space which she was creating fro herself. This experience was a wake-up call
for me,and I undertook a deeper introspection, which provided me new insights. I
am sure many of the parents may be facing similar-like situation.

As parents, we don’t find time
for our children. We don’t understand the need for spending quality time with
them. In whatever time we spend, we force our fixed notions of life on them. We
force our judgement on them on many occasions. We tell them what is right, and
what is wrong from our own perspective. We don’t present the facts in a
balanced way, which make the children develop their faculties to judge. We
analyse the situation from a biased perspective, and force our children to
accept our view-point. All this destroys the chances of trust-building.

Children can develop trust in
parents when they see their parents as friends. This change in perspective
requires much efforts from the parents. The children can trust us when we have
a firm belief in their potentialities, and we stop comparing them with other
children. The moment we realize that our children have unique potential, which
can be nurtured by us in their field of his/her choice, the seeds of trust sprout
up. We get the right wisdom to deal with our child, and the mutual trust begins
to develop. Our huge expectations from our child begins to diminish, and we try
to locate the treasure in our child by looking what lies within our child. We
are not bothered by our child’s external behaviour, simply because we ourselves
change our thinking.

Helping children to grow up in
trust will be a big challenge for the parents in the times to come. Simply
because trust-deficit in all walks of life is increasing. If we make efforts
make children grow up in trust, then we can make immense contribution in
creating of a new society. Our children can be the biggest ambassadors of
trust-building when they mature as adults. Their lessons in trust-building will
become an effective guide for them to become change-agents in their fields of
profession.

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About Me

I am a writer primarily on cooperatives based in Delhi.I like to write on other issues which are close to my heart.The issue of trust is very significant for me.I consider 'trust' as a key element for not only human relationships,but also for successful organisational as well as developmental initiatives.With MPhil in International Relations from JNU,I have keen interest in analysing issues from an inter-disciplinary perspective.You can contact me at svvermas318@gmail.com